Everyday Jesus vs. Apocalypse Jesus

Brad Sullivan

2 Epiphany, Year C

January 17, 2016

Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church, Bay City, TX

John 2:1-11

Everyday Jesus vs. Apocalypse Jesus

So when Jesus and his mother, Mary, were at a wedding, and the wine ran out, Mary told Jesus, "They have no wine."  And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." It seems that Jesus thought his mother was telling him they needed wine for the Last Supper.  “My hour has not yet come,” Jesus said.  “It’s not time for that important meal yet, mom, I don’t need any extra wine.” 

Then, I’m assuming one look from Mary told Jesus, “Son, I know we’re not there yet, but in the mean time, there is a whole lot of living to do.  Give these people some wine…and don’t ever refer to me as ‘woman’ again.”  “Oh, you mean wine for the party?”  Jesus realized.  “Good idea Mom, the stuff they’ve been serving so far isn’t that good anyway...and yes ma’am,” and then Mary commanded the wine steward to do whatever Jesus said. 

Why was this such a big deal, and why was Mary so intent on making sure there was wine enough at the wedding?  It may seem like an odd miracle to start letting people know that the Messiah has come, making sure there was plenty of really good wine, but Jesus helped the couple and family out quite a bit.  This was a wedding, and wine at a wedding was a big deal, much like it often is today. 

Providing the wine was more than getting folks drunk.  Providing the wine helped the couple start out on the right foot.  If the party didn’t go well, people would talk.  Social shaming is far from new, and running out of wine at the wedding could have been the talk of the town for quite some time.  Social status meant a good bit, more perhaps even than it does now.  Providing wine for the party meant that this couple didn’t get shamed on their wedding night, meant that their marriage didn’t begin badly.

It seems no surprise then, that Mary, was the one who insisted that this young couple not be shamed on their wedding night.  Mary knew quite well the shunning that goes with shaming and diminished social status.  She was, after all, the possible adulteress wife of Joseph who ended up pregnant before she was even married.  That was a big deal in those days, and she likely suffered much scorn.  Jesus may well have been thinking, “no wine, no big deal.”  Perhaps in directing Jesus to provide more wine, Mary was also helping to teach him and remind him about how badly we often treat each other and how important every day of our life is, not just the end.  Jesus’ hour had not yet come, but the newlywed couples’ hour was right then.

We tend get so wrapped up in the end, in the tasks we have, etc. that we miss or mistreat the people and the world around us.  We’ll have a deadline or we’ll be late, and in our anxiety and dwelling about that end, we can be rather less than cordial towards others, especially if they interrupt us or make us even later.  We dwell on the end and miss or mistreat the people and the world around us.

We even tent to dwell on the apocalypse.  Whole fields of study, books, movies, theologies all dwell on the apocalypse, the end of the world.  Why?  Perhaps because it is scary and big and it makes for a great book or movie, but perhaps too because the apocalypse is easy, simple.  Our anxieties seem to push us as a society to the apocalypse, contemplating, fearing, dwelling on the end of the world.  Even if not the end of the world, conversation in Bible study often turns to the end of our lives and what happens after we die.  Certainly there is anxiety about our deaths and the end of the world, but I think our conversations about Jesus often turn to the end of our lives and the end of the world not because we are anxious about then end, but because we are anxious about right now.  Whatever the end will be, we ultimately don’t have much control over it.  The end is much simpler than now. 

Living isn’t easy, and there is plenty to fear today.  It can be simpler in one’s belief in Jesus to skip to then end not have to actually live, but we’re not here just for the end.  We’re here for all the living before the end.  Jesus also isn’t here just for the end.  He isn’t present only at the end.  He blessed and sanctified not only our deaths but our lives.  Jesus is here for every day of our living, including the end.  It’s nice to know too that even Jesus was at times perhaps too focused on the end and needed a reminder from his mom, “it’s time for living, son.  Be the light of the world, even here, now, for this young couple.”

The best wine, like what Jesus helped serve at the wedding, is here for us not only at our last supper, but for all of the meals and feasts in between.  The light of Jesus is here for the unimportant and mundane, which is where much of our lives are spent.  The important and mundane of every day are important enough for “Everyday Jesus” to hallow and sanctify with his presence.  It may not make for as good of a movie or be as flashy and exciting as “Apocalypse Jesus”, but that’s not where we live.  We live in the everyday.  We live in the simple anxieties and joys, the humdrum and excitement of everyday life.  Mary reminded Jesus, and Jesus reminds us all, that he is here with us and for us in our everyday lives, because all of our lives are hallowed and sacred.  Amen.